Latest news with #USIranTensions
The Independent
23-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Qatar temporarily closes airspace amid rising tensions in Middle East
Qatar has temporarily closed its airspace in response to the escalating conflict in the Middle East, grounding flights in and out of the Gulf state. The move comes after US forces struck three nuclear sites in Iran, prompting Tehran to launch a barrage of retaliatory ballistic missiles against Israel. In a statement posted to social media on Monday, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: 'Qatari authorities announce the temporary suspension of air traffic in the country's airspace, in order to ensure the safety of citizens, residents, and visitors.' Qatar Airways has been contacted for comment on the impact to its operations. Airlines are reviewing routes across the region, with some services rerouted or diverted mid-air. It comes just hours after the Foreign Office advised British nationals in Qatar to 'shelter in place' following a US security alert. The UK Foreign Office is advising against all travel to Iran and urges British nationals in the region to follow local guidance. It has also updated its travel advice for Qatar, warning British nationals to shelter in place 'out of an abundance of caution' following a US security alert in the country. In updated guidance, it said: 'Following a US security alert for US nationals in Qatar, out of an abundance of caution, we recommend that British nationals in Qatar shelter in place until further notice. 'Follow instructions from local authorities. 'The FCDO is in contact with local authorities and international partners, and will provide further updates as the situation develops.' Qatar is home to Al Udeid airbase, the largest US military installation in the Middle East, where around 8,000 American personnel are based, according to the US State Department. The base also hosts British forces. No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group, part of the Royal Air Force, is headquartered at Al Udeid and leads UK air operations in the region. On Monday, flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 showed a Qatar Airways service from Gatwick to Doha make a sharp diversion shortly before entering Qatari airspace.
Time of India
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
'We Won't': Iran Fumes After Trump's Rant, Rejects His ‘Unconditional Surrender' Offer
Iran has issued a fierce response to U.S. President Donald Trump, rejecting his claims that Tehran seeks negotiations and condemning his threats as fabricated and provocative. The Iranian mission to the UN labeled Trump's remarks political theater, denying that any official requested a White House visit. As Trump floated the idea of Iran's 'unconditional surrender' and claimed the country is defenseless, Tehran emphasized it will not negotiate under duress and will meet any threat with force. These statements come amid a regional crisis sparked by Israel's attacks and a breakdown in U.S.-Iran nuclear talks. Iran also reported recent military successes, including downing Israeli jets and a U.S. drone. As tensions rise, Trump's rhetoric is seen as escalating a conflict that shows no sign of de-escalation.#IranUSRelations #TrumpVsIran #MiddleEastCrisis #IranSpeaksOut #USIranTensions #IranResponse #IranUNStatement #IsraelIranConflict Read More
The Independent
12-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
The history of US-Iran relations as tensions flare with Israel
Amid rising regional security concerns, the United States has withdrawn some diplomatic personnel and military families from its embassy in Baghdad, Iran. This decision occurs during a period of heightened tensions. According to US President Donald Trump, the region has become a "dangerous place," with an increasing risk that Tehran might retaliate against an Israeli strike. However, diplomatic struggles between the US and Iran go back much further, inevitably shaping the backdrop to the latest flare up. For much of the 20th century, the US and Iran maintained friendly relations. During the Cold War, Washington depended on the Shah of Iran to counter Soviet influence in the oil-rich Middle East. However, the Shah's growing unpopularity led to the CIA's involvement in the 1953 overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, who had nationalised Iran's British-owned oil company and sought a neutral stance in the Cold War. In 1979, the Iranian Revolution ousted the Shah, and the new Islamic government accused the CIA of training the Shah's secret police. The revolutionaries vowed to fight Western imperialism, branding America 'the Great Satan.' Revolutionary students seized the American embassy, holding diplomats and staff hostage for over a year, marking the end of a long-standing alliance that had significantly shaped the region. How have US-Iran tensions played out in the past? The new Iranian government wanted to export its Islamic Revolution to fellow Shi'ite Muslims and groups opposing Israel, which it saw as the chief avatar of a Western imperialist project oppressing Muslims in the Middle East. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps set up Hezbollah in Lebanon in the early 1980s and the United States accuses the group of bombing its embassy and marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, killing around 300 people, mostly Americans. Hezbollah, which went on to fight repeated wars with the main US regional ally Israel, has said other groups were responsible. Iran had complaints too. Iraq invaded Iran in 1980 and started using chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers and border villages from 1982 but Washington lent diplomatic backing in the war to Baghdad. A US warship also mistakenly shot down an Iranian passenger plane in 1988, killing 290 people. Tensions eased after 1990, as the US focused on Iraq after Baghdad's invasion of Kuwait and as Iran in 1997 elected reformist President Mohammed Khatami, who sought better relations with the West. The rivalry heated up again in the early 2000s with US President George W Bush labelling Iran part of an 'Axis of Evil' along with Iraq and North Korea, a tag that caused anger in Iran. Iran's secret nuclear programme was revealed in 2002, while the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 put the two countries on opposite sides of a struggle for control in the Shi'ite majority country. Who do the US and Iran support in the Middle East? The US-Iranian rivalry has often played out at arm's length in conflicts and political struggles between each side's proxies and allies around the Middle East. Besides Hezbollah, Iran backs armed Shi'ite factions in Iraq that have attacked US forces there, the Houthi group in Yemen that has attacked international shipping in the Red Sea and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The United States is the main international backer of Israel, Iran's biggest regional foe. It is also a close ally of Sunni Gulf monarchies which for years pursued their own rivalry with the Islamic Republic, seeing it as their main regional threat. Although Saudi Arabia and other Sunni kingdoms have buried the hatchet with Tehran, they remain wary and fear that any US strikes on Iran could prompt retaliation against them. Where does Iran's nuclear programme come in? The revelation that Iran was secretly enriching uranium - a process to generate fuel for an atomic power plant but that can also make more concentrated material needed for a bomb - put its nuclear programme in the US crosshairs. Western countries ramped up pressure on Iran with sanctions as negotiations over its nuclear programme meandered for years. Iran says its programme is entirely civilian and that it has the right to enrich uranium. Washington and its allies say Iran has consistently hidden important elements of its programme and believe it wants to build a nuclear bomb. In 2015 Iran and six major powers including the United States agreed to curb Tehran's nuclear work in return for limited sanctions relief, but US President Donald Trump ripped up the deal in 2018. The two sides are negotiating again but seem far apart and Trump has threatened to bomb if there is no new deal. What is Israel's relationship with Iran? Israel has often described Iran as its most dangerous enemy and has indicated it may strike the country's nuclear sites. Any such attack would likely need US acquiescence, potentially dragging Washington into a conflict with Tehran. Israel is already widely seen as behind covert attacks on Iran's nuclear programme including the Stuxnet computer virus and assassinations of scientists. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied this. Tensions have increased since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and as war raged in Gaza. Last year Israel defeated Tehran's main regional ally Hezbollah and struck Iranian military targets in Syria and Iraq. Iran's Houthi allies in Yemen targeted Israel with strikes. Iran and Israel twice exchanged direct fire with missiles and drones, underscoring the possibility of a full-blown war.
Al Jazeera
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
US evacuates personnel from Middle East in sign of growing regional tension
The United States is preparing a partial evacuation of its embassy in Iraq and has authorised 'the voluntary departure' of dependants of US personnel from locations across the Middle East, including Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, as regional security concerns rise. US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement on Wednesday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had authorised the departure of military dependants in the region and that CENTCOM was 'monitoring the developing tension'. Orders for all nonessential personnel to depart the US Embassy in Baghdad – which was already on limited staffing – was based on a commitment 'to keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad', the Department of State said. Speaking on Wednesday evening, US President Donald Trump said the order to move staff out had been given because the region 'could be a dangerous place'. 'We'll see what happens. We've given notice to move out, and we'll see what happens,' Trump said. Trump then added in reference to Iran: 'They can't have a nuclear weapon, very simple. We're not going to allow that.' Uncertainty has been growing in recent days as talks between the US and Iran over its nuclear programme appear to have hit an impasse. US news broadcaster CBS reported late on Wednesday that US officials have been informed that Israel is 'fully ready' to launch an attack on Iran and that Washington 'anticipates' that Tehran could retaliate by targeting 'certain American sites in neighbouring Iraq'. Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher, reporting from Washington, DC, said there have been clear signs in recent days of high-level discussions between senior military officials and the Trump administration amid concern around the ongoing talks with Iran over its nuclear programme. 'Donald Trump has in the last couple of days … expressed his concern that a deal might not be able to be done,' Fisher said. 'Therefore, we are seeing, effectively, the partial evacuation of the embassy in Baghdad with non-military personnel and non-essential staff being moved out. And the voluntary evacuation of other embassies in the region,' he said. 'They've done this sort of thing before,' Fisher said, noting the Baghdad embassy was partially evacuated previously over 'concerns that the embassy could become a target for Iranian-aligned militias in Iraq'. 'Clearly, there is some concern that the discussions with the Iranians aren't going well. Or, it could be that this is all designed to put pressure on Iranians. Because, you will remember, that Donald Trump said that if they couldn't get some sort of deal, then … there could be some sort of military action against the Iranians.' As reports of US embassy staff and dependants departing the Middle East region emerged, Iran's mission to the United Nations posted on social media that 'Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon, and US militarism only fuels instability'. 'Threats of 'overwhelming force' won't change the facts,' the Iranian mission said. 'Diplomacy – not militarism – is the only path forward,' it Iranian Defence Minister General Aziz Nasirzadeh told reporters earlier that he hoped talks with the US would be successful, though Tehran stood ready to respond to any aggression. 'If conflict is imposed on us, the opponent's casualties will certainly be more than ours, and in that case, America must leave the region, because all its bases are within our reach,' he said. 'We have access to them, and we will target all of them in the host countries without hesitation.' The next round of talks – the sixth – between the US and Iran on limits to Tehran's nuclear programme in exchange for lifting sanctions on the country have been tentatively scheduled for this weekend in Oman, according to reports, and Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, is still scheduled to attend.
Time of India
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Ujjain hosts Spiritual & Wellness Summit
'You Can't Do A Damn Thing': Defiant Khamenei Vows To Continue Uranium Enrichment Despite U.S. Threats Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has fiercely rejected U.S. demands to halt uranium enrichment, declaring that America "cannot do a damn thing" to stop Iran's nuclear progress. Speaking from Imam Khomeini's mausoleum, Khamenei emphasized that enrichment is the core of Iran's nuclear identity and accused the West of decades of sabotage. He reminded Iranians of past U.S. and European refusals to supply nuclear fuel, justifying Iran's pursuit of a complete fuel cycle. His defiant stance signals rising tensions as nuclear negotiations falter once again.#iran #khamenei #uraniumenrichment #nucleardeal #IranNuclearProgram #USIranTensions #MiddleEastPolitics #IranUSRelations #nucleartalks #tehran #AyatollahKhamenei #geopolitics 104 views | 1 hour ago
